Turkey's highest court strikes down Twitter ban

ANKARA, Turkey -- Turkey's highest court has ruled that the country's Twitter ban violates the right to free expression and has demanded that access be restored.

Wednesday's decision by the Constitutional Court is binding, but it was not clear when the telecommunications authority would reinstate access.

Turkey suspended access to Twitter last month after the website became a conduit for links to recordings suggesting government corruption. The government then blocked access to YouTube following the leak of an audio recording of a secret government security meeting.

A lower court had also ordered that access to Twitter be restored but authorities said they had 30 days to implement the order and would appeal.

Many tech-savvy users, including President Abdullah Gul, found ways to circumvent the ban on both Twitter and YouTube.